The Use of an Innovative Curriculum: Enabling and Inhibiting Change in Practice.

Edwards, Thomas G.

Reports on case studies of three secondary school teachers who were implementing the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) for the first time. The research examined whether innovative textbooks and curriculum materials can play a role in the process of change in instructional practice. Data from field observations, interviews, written journals, and classroom artifacts were collected over two school years in a large northeastern city. It was found that problems with time management and lack of familiarity with UCSMP materials acted to inhibit change. The materials facilitated changes, however, in other ways, including: (1) increased use of cooperative learning strategies; (2) using student reading as an instructional strategy; (3) more mathematical connections being made; (4) a transition toward negotiation of shared meanings; and (5) changing roles for teachers themselves. The author concludes that the changes in teaching practices fostered by UCSMP materials is consistent with a constructivist approach. (Contains 26 references.) (DPM)